Police allegedly found illegal drugs in pocket of man who died in Stereosonic Music Festival in Adelaide
THE devastated family of a teenager who died at Adelaide’s Stereosonic music festival have begged friends to look after each other, as they say they “never want another family to go through what we are going through now”.
THE family of a teenager who died at Adelaide’s Stereosonic music festival yesterday say they are devastated by their loss — but anything, they want “something good to come of this tragedy”.
The mother of Stefan Woodward, Julie Davis, says her family will “miss their happy, fun-loving young man whose life has been cut so tragically short”.
The 19-year-old was rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital about 5pm on Saturday, where he later died. Police believe illegal drugs were the cause of his death.
Three other young people who attended Stereosonic — two in SA and one in Melbourne — remain in intensive care after suspected drug overdoses.
“Our family is devastated by our loss and we would do anything to have our son and brother back,” Ms Davis said.
“Stefan finished a traffic management training course on Friday and was excited about getting an apprenticeship.
“I keep asking what could have stopped me from losing my son, and my other two sons from losing their darling brother.
“More than anything I want something good to come of this tragedy.
“I want organisers of events like these to make sure there is enough first aid on offer to make sure that no one gets turned away, and no one feels they need to wait.
“I want friends to look after each and make sure it’s never considered weak to ask for help.
“I want authorities to make sure kids are kept safe with free water.
“And I want young boys and girls like Stefan to never be too scared to ask for help.
“Mostly, I never want another family to go through what we are going through now.”
Mr Woodward, who was completing Year 13 at Seaton High School, had a job at Foodland in Allenby Gardens and was heavily involved in the Woodville Lacrosse Club.
Dozens of tributes to Mr Woodward were posted on Facebook last night as his friends and family came to grips with the man’s sudden death.
“To all of Stefan’s friends and family, my heart aches for you. I think we can all agree that even if you knew him a little or a lot he would leave footprints on your heart. We have lost a really beautiful guy and I can only hope you all stick together through this and remember the good times. Sending love and well wishes to all and Stefan, may you and your caring and pure soul rest in peace,” wrote Lissy Oxford.
Isabella Vitagliano posted: “Rip Stefan Stefan Woodward you beautiful soul, you will be missed by many.”
And Josh Flavos wrote: “Rest in paradise brother, taken from us way too early.”
A police spokesman said illegal drugs were the suspected cause of Mr Woodward’s death.
“The initial investigation indicates the man had consumed an illicit drug and was in possession of a number of pills,’’ the spokesman said.
Police released images of orange pills imprinted with a dollar sign, which they say “may be related” to the death.
Superintendent John De Candia, the officer in charge of the Eastern Adelaide Local Service Area, said in addition to Mr Woodward’s death, two other young people are in the Royal Adelaide Hospital after apparently taking drugs at the Stereosonic Music Festival.
“We are appealing for anyone in the community with information relevant to these matters to come forward and speak to police,” he said.
“We will fully investigate the death of this teenager and the origin of the drugs he had in his possession.
Two other young people are in the Royal Adelaide Hospital being treated for serious overdoses — a 21-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man.”
The man was taken to the RAH about midday. Then in the early evening, police at the hospital were alerted by staff that the young woman had taking an illicit substance.
Meanwhile, a teenager is in a critical condition in Melbourne after six people overdosed on drugs at the Melbourne’s Stereosonic festival yesterday.
The young man, in his late teens, was taken to Western Hospital in Footscray in a critical condition.
He is now in intensive care with his condition reduced to serious but stable.
Supt John De Candia said it was disappointing that despite repeated warnings about the risk taking behaviour a young man had died and described it as “the worst possible outcome for SAPOL”.
“Despite our efforts despite the media messages, the warnings in relation to risk taking behaviour that people engage in — in taking illicit drugs ... we’re still in this tragic situation of a 19- year-old man who is now dead as a result of that risk taking behaviour,” he said.
“This is the worst possible outcome for SAPOL.
“Can you imagine what that family is going through..... there is one less person at the Christmas table this year and next year and the year after and birthdays”
Police would not reveal the number of tablets found on Mr Woodward but confirmed the other overdoses were not from the same tablets that featured a dollar sign on them.
“I’m not going to go into those details in relation to what was located on him but we do know that he did have some pills on his person and that formed part of the message in relation to the tablets that we did release on social media about the pills that were located.
“But the other people that had taken drugs and the other drugs seized were different ones.”
Police won’t know what was in the pills until forensic testing is completed in the coming days.
When asked if SAPOL support testing stations at festivals for illicit drugs, Supt De Candia would not comment.
“That’s a matter for government to address,” he said.
“It’s a matter for government to address and not SAPOL. All I can say is if you want to be 100 per cent certain about illicit drugs — don’t take them. You don’t know how they’re made, where they’re made — the people that manufacture them are in the business of organised crime. They’re in the business of making money and they don’t care about the misery inflected on others.”
Police Minister Tony Piccolo said testing stations outside of events such as Stereosonic could provide a false sense of safety for revellers.
“The only 100 per cent sure and safe system is not to take drugs,” he said.
“The difficulty of actually having some testing system is there are too many variables. I’ll give you an example. We may test for a pill — that’s one — and there are often a number of other pills often at these events. They can only test the ingredients, it can’t tell you on the spot how many is safe and how many is not safe to take — importantly though is that a person may have a pre existing medical condition which actually means they cannot take that drug at all.
The advice I am receiving is that on the spot advice isn’t a safeguard and you can actually lead a person into a false sense of safety.........They are not necessarily reliable.”.”
Professor Bob Dunn, Acting Director of Royal Adelaide Hospital Emergency Department said that the two others who were admitted for overdoses yesterday, who were being treated in intensive care, were among 25 people who presented attended the RAH Emergency Department last night.
“There were about 25 people who attended the Royal Adelaide Emergency Department late last night which we believe were related to the festival itself.”
“The vast majority were related to drug use.
“It’s very sad seeing what happens. We lost a young Australian who probably had a lot to live for and that’s the saddest part.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described the man’s death in Adelaide as shocking and tragic.
Mr Turnbull and Justice Minister Michael Keenan spoke about Mr Woodward’s death as they announced a package of measures to combat the drug Ice.
“Someone takes a pill and dies — probably, perhaps — unaware of the risks that they were taking,’’ Mr Turnbull said.
“[This is a] Tragic event and all of us here have the same sympathy for the family.”
Mr Keenan said authorities went to enormous effort to try and prevent illicit drugs from being taken into music festivals.
He said the government was not planning to support “pill-testing”, where drug users could use testing kits to check on what was contained inside illicit drugs.
“My heart goes out to the family of that particular individual who obviously have seen the worst possible consequences of the danger of illicit drugs,’’ Mr Keenan said.
“But it’s a reminder to us about how dangerous these substances are. You don’t know what’s in them and if you’re taking them you have no idea what you’re putting in your body and what the consequences can be.’’
The death comes after Sylvia Choi, 25, died at the Sydney Stereosonic festival last weekend.
Meanwhile, images appeared on social media showing a toilet wash basin filled with condoms used to smuggle drugs into the Bonython Park music event, where police had searched a number of festival-goers before they went inside.
Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president Dr Alex Wodak said the death again demonstrated why illicit drugs should be checked for safety at events like music festivals.
“So many drug experts have been asking why, given the spate of these recent deaths attributed to ecstasy, we don’t at least trial drug checking,” said Dr Wodak, who is an emeritus consultant at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney.
“The crux of the problem is, as a New Zealand minister said, ‘untested drugs in an unregulated market’. So, why not trial drug checking in Australia? It seems to work well in half a dozen European countries — and seems to shift the market away from very dangerous drugs.”
Dr Wodak questioned whether advice from police or legal advice might have prevented Stereosonic from warning the crowd about the drug death.
“If I was the organiser of an event where a tragedy like this occurred, I would want to issue a warning as soon as possible,” he said.
Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Stephen Parnis said this week more research was needed into whether knowing drug composition helped reduce deaths.
“In this area there is no magic bullet, I have to say. The evidence is not definitive here that laboratories on the site of music festivals necessarily result in a reduction in harm,” he told ABC Radio.
Health Minister Jack Snelling said: “This is an absolute tragedy and my thoughts are with the man’s family and loved ones.
“The Government is willing to consider anything that might prevent such tragedies, but illicit drug taking will always be inherently dangerous.”
Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade also expressed sympathy for the dead man’s family and urged a review of music events like Stereosonic.
“We certainly need to have a fresh look at how we make these events safer but nothing will make illicit drugs safe,” he said.
“Two deaths at similar events in one week will confirm that we have a problem.”
Pointing out the death happened on the eve of the unveiling today of a national ice strategy, Mr Wade urged a focus on ecstasy and other “party” drugs similar to the 1997 National Illicit Drugs Strategy, credited with helping end the heroin crisis. This would involve education about the dangers of the drugs as well as enforcement, Mr Wade said.
Concertgoers expressed their sadness over the death yesterday. Ella Slack, 30, of Burnside said she was shocked. “Can you imagine if it was one of your friends?” she said.
“Someone else’s friend just died; that’s too real.”
Henry Jarman, 20, of Norwood, said the man’s death was horrible but unsurprising. “It kind of doesn’t surprise me,” he said.
“There needs to be more awareness for friends looking out for each other. You can’t go in thinking you are Superman.”
Annika Lioulios, 20, of Medindie, said people did not appreciate the risks they were taking.
“It’s sad that it takes that to happen for people to realise how bad drugs are,” she said.
More than 10,000 people went through the gates by 2pm, and police said one person was arrested for “behaviour offences”.
A sniffer dog stopped five people, which resulted in 19 pills being seized and three people referred for drug diversions.
In Victoria, police arrested 60 revellers in a drugs crackdown at the Melbourne Stereosonic festival, which ran simultaneously, to the Adelaide event.
The Sunday Mail attempted to contact the festival organisers yesterday but phone calls were not returned.
However, a release on the Stereosonic website said: “Stereosonic once again warns the public of the risks associated with taking any type of illicit substance.
“We are imploring people to see the dangers of the situation, enjoy the day and please be safe.
“Our first aid team and staff are here to help.’’
Anybody with information about either incident should contact police at 131 444 or Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000 or www.sacrimestoppers.com.au.